Was surfing while exhausted. My board strap came unvelcroed and my board floated away.
I am swimming to shore but at one point hit that tired state where the current is stronger than I am swimming and I realize I am not moving towards shore anymore.
I panic, which doesn't help my swimming any.
Suddenly, I remember the surf instructor saying there is a reef far out from shore, but whatever you do don't stand on it unless you want really bad coral cuts. I was so panicked, I thought, what the hell, maybe the reef is there.
So, I kind of just stood up on the middle of the water. My foot hit something (the reef, I assume) and I was able to stand there with my head barely above wave height and rest.
Once I got my strength back, I swam back to shore and have not gone surfing since.
Edit: Many kind people are sharing their true near drowning experiences while surfing in nasty waves. They are the true near drowning while surfing survivors! Rather embarassingly, I should say the waves were not very big where I was at. I was very near drowning, but mainly from exhaustion (I had played a 3 day tournament just before and had been surfing for hours) and not knowing how to manage the smallish waves I was in as I had only really swam in pools and rivers before this experience. For me, the near drowning was very much an open water near drowning more than a surfing near drowning.
I am swimming to shore but at one point hit that tired state where the current is stronger than I am swimming and I realize I am not moving towards shore anymore.
I panic, which doesn't help my swimming any.
Suddenly, I remember the surf instructor saying there is a reef far out from shore, but whatever you do don't stand on it unless you want really bad coral cuts. I was so panicked, I thought, what the hell, maybe the reef is there.
So, I kind of just stood up on the middle of the water. My foot hit something (the reef, I assume) and I was able to stand there with my head barely above wave height and rest.
Once I got my strength back, I swam back to shore and have not gone surfing since.
Edit: Many kind people are sharing their true near drowning experiences while surfing in nasty waves. They are the true near drowning while surfing survivors! Rather embarassingly, I should say the waves were not very big where I was at. I was very near drowning, but mainly from exhaustion (I had played a 3 day tournament just before and had been surfing for hours) and not knowing how to manage the smallish waves I was in as I had only really swam in pools and rivers before this experience. For me, the near drowning was very much an open water near drowning more than a surfing near drowning.